


The Monster In The Closet

by FabledPhantom



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Fluff, Happy Ending, Human AU, I mean for the most part, Kid!Patton, Kid!Roman, Monster!Janus, kid!Logan, monster!remus, monster!virgil
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-13
Updated: 2020-08-14
Packaged: 2021-03-05 21:35:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 3,610
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25872208
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FabledPhantom/pseuds/FabledPhantom
Summary: Patton, Roman, and Logan are all kids just trying to get a good night’s rest. Unfortunately for them, Virgil, Remus, and Janus are the monsters in their closets, and it’s their job to scare them. But after a while, something changes.
Relationships: Platonic Creativitwins, Platonic DLAMPR, Platonic Loceit - Relationship, Platonic Moxiety - Relationship, platonic DRLAMP
Comments: 6
Kudos: 72





	1. Patton and the Spider

“I don’t wanna go to bed!”  
Thomas sighed, “Pat, it’s ten o’clock on a school night. No more cartoons.”  
“It’s not that! It’s the monster! It’s gonna be there again and it’s scary!” He hugged his father and hid his face.  
Suddenly an idea struck Thomas, “What if we got something to keep the monster away?”  
Patton perked up, “Like what?”  
“Stay here,” he instructed.  
Thomas went to the kitchen and got out the almost-empty spray bottle of cleaner. He emptied out the last of it and rinsed it out before filling it with water and peeling off the label. He went back and handed the bottle to Patton.  
“What is it?”  
“It’s...” he trailed off, “anti-monster spray!”  
“Anti-monster spray?”  
“Yeah, my friend made it for me. Just spray a little bit around your room and the monster will go away.”  
“It won’t kill the monster though, right?”  
If it were either one of his other kids, he would assure him that yes, the monster would be dead and gone forever. But this was Patton, who cried the first time Thomas killed a mosquito in front of him.  
“No, it doesn’t hurt them. It just makes them go away ‘cause they don’t like it.”  
Satisfied with that answer, Patton took the bottle and hugged his dad, “Okay! ‘Night!” With that, he hurried off to bed.

Virgil watched his human, who seemed to be fading into sleep. Slowly easing his way out of the darkness of the closet, he stretched his spider limbs and crawled along the ceiling until he was hanging upside down over the little one’s face. He touched the kid’s nose to wake him up.  
At which point he promptly had something sprayed in his face.  
“Ow, my eyes!” He hissed. Due to his temporary blindness and disoriented state, he fell from the ceiling, hit his side on the bed frame, and finally thudded to the floor.  
Patton hid under his blanket, only creating a tiny opening so he could see the monster.  
He spoke, voice trembling, “Are-are you o-okay?”  
The creature rubbed its many, many eyes and stood up and walked towards Patton, who then started crying and curled in on himself.  
The monster pulled the blankets off Patton, who whimpered. It took its inhuman hand and tilted the boy’s head up to face him.  
“Open your eyes.”  
Patton reluctantly did so, staring back at the creature’s eight pitch black eyes.  
“I’m okay.” The creature smiled, although its fangs and chelicera made it more threatening than anything.  
“Wh-what?” Patton asked, sniffling.  
“Earlier, you asked if I was okay. I am. Thanks, kid.”  
“I-I’m sorry. Dad said th-that it wouldn’t hurt you.”  
“That what wouldn’t hurt me?”  
“The anti-monster spray. I-it was just supposed to make you go away.”  
Virgil tried to not let that get to him too much. It was his job to scare the kid. It made sense he wanted him gone.  
“It’s okay. I’m not hurt. But I won’t be going away; I’ll be back.” Before Patton could say anything else, the creature retreated into the closet. After a few minutes, Patton slowly approached the closet door and opened it.  
There was nothing there.


	2. Roman and the Octopus

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Patton, Roman, and Logan are all kids just trying to get a good night’s rest. Unfortunately for them, Virgil, Remus, and Janus are the monsters in their closets, and it’s their job to scare them. But after a while, something changes.

His kid had guts, that much Remus would admit.  
He liked Roman. He wasn’t like one of the boring ones that’d just scream or something. Currently, he was playing with the kid, who was trying to defeat him with his toy sword. Although, to Roman, he was dueling the wretched monster in one of his heroic missions to protect his family. He chuckled at how serious this all was to the kid.  
“Don’t laugh at me, foul villain!”  
Remus used one of his tentacles to throw Roman’s sword out of his hand and across the room. He cornered the young self-proclaimed hero, eyes glowing green and shark-like teeth on full display.  
He doesn’t think anything could prepare him for when the kid decided to give him a swift kick to the nuts.  
“OW, my DICK!” He kneeled over.  
Roman laughed and grabbed his sword, pointing it to the monster’s throat.  
“The day has finally come where I have defeated you, beast! Now leave and never come back, or perish by my sword!”  
Remus glared at the other, “You little shit,” he snarled, “Fine. But I am gonna kick your ass next time.” And with that, he retreated back into the closet.

The next day, Roman told his story over dinner as his family watched in awe and fond admiration.  
Thomas ruffled his hair as he finished his story and they started cleaning up, “That was really brave of you, Roman. You’re my hero.”  
Roman’s smile was as wide as possible as he jumped around before going to the couch to have their weekly family Friday Disney movie night.  
Fortunately for Roman, he didn’t have to face the monster that night, because they had all fallen asleep to the credits of one of his favorite movies.


	3. Logan and the Snake

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Patton, Roman, and Logan are all kids just trying to get a good night’s rest. Unfortunately for them, Virgil, Remus, and Janus are the monsters in their closets, and it’s their job to scare them. But after a while, something changes.

“Alright, which one of you messed with the AC?” Thomas asked his three kids, all of which were cuddling up with blankets on the couch.  
“Me.”  
Roman turned to his brother, “Why would you do that! It’s freezing!”  
“It’s for a science experiment.”  
Thomas sighed, “What science experiment?”  
“Confidential,” the young boy stated plainly.  
Thomas went to adjust the thermostat, Logan trailing behind him. As soon as he increased the temperature, Logan stood on his tip-toes and lowered it back down. The two stared at each other for a moment. Thomas knew how stubborn Logan could get, and decided it wasn’t worth it.  
“Fine. But just for tonight, okay?”  
Logan gave a thumbs-up. After making some hot cocoa for him and his siblings, he decided to ‘go to bed.’  
“I’m tired.”  
“Already?”  
He nodded, “Can I go to bed?”  
“Of course. ‘Night, Lo-lo,” he signed ‘I love you.’ Logan didn’t like physical contact if he wasn’t the one to initiate it, so it was kind of like Thomas’s version of a hug or a platonic goodnight kiss on the forehead. He signed it back and grabbed the water bottle he had put in the freezer earlier before heading to bed with his hot cocoa.

He lied awake for around half an hour before the familiar six-armed creature approached his bed. He quickly shot up, grabbing his frozen water bottle and smacking the monster with it.  
The creature hissed and stepped back, holding its cheek.  
Logan took out his notebook and started writing.  
“...What are you doing?”  
He looked up at the monster, “Taking notes for my experiment.”  
“Experiment? What experim-Wait, aren’t you scared of me?”  
“No,” he shrugged, “Not anymore. I realized that if you wanted to hurt me you would’ve done it already.”  
Janus didn’t think he’d been as confused as he was in that moment in his entire life, and considering he lived with Remus, that was saying something.  
“But-but,” he sputtered, “I am the physical manifestation of your _worst nightmares_. All of your fears culminated into a single entity. You should be afraid!”  
“Well, I’m not,” the boy said plainly.  
“But what about these scales and this eye and these fangs!” He gestured to his face, “Aren’t you afraid of snakes?”  
The boy raised an eyebrow, “Only the venomous ones, but you aren’t a snake anyway.”  
“I’m a snake-like monster. Isn’t that _worse?_ ”  
Again, the boy looked confused, “You’re not a monster. A monster is ‘an imaginary creature that is typically large, ugly, and frightening.’ You’re certainly not imaginary, you’re not larger than any human I’ve ever seen, appearance is subjective, and whether or not something is frightening depends on the person. So I don’t believe you could be classified as a monster,” he finished, turning back to his notebook and scribbling down more notes.  
Janus didn’t understand why that warmed his heart so much. He was a monster and he was _supposed_ to be scary; it was his job. But some small part of him thought it felt nice not to be feared for a change.

He hugged himself with all six of his arms to try to warm himself up from the harsh cold of the house. Logan seemed to take notice.  
“Are you cold?”  
“Yes.”  
The boy wrote something down in his notebook before closing it, “I thought so. So am I correct in saying that you have some reptilian traits beyond your appearance?”  
Janus quirked an eyebrow, a little confused at all the questioning. Of all the ways he expected his night to go, he hadn’t anticipated anything like this.  
“Yes.”  
Logan paused, looking around for a moment before holding out his cup of hot cocoa, “Do you want some hot cocoa?”  
“What?”  
“Hot cocoa. It’s warm and sweet. It usually helps me when I’m cold.”  
Janus hesitated before taking the mug in one of his many hands and holding it up to his face. It was warm, and it smelled nice. He took a small sip and hummed. He’d never eaten or drank anything before, but he decided he liked this ‘hot cocoa.’  
“Do you like it?” The boy asked.  
Janus simply nodded, quickly finishing the rest of the drink and setting the empty cup on the nightstand.  
“Can I touch your claws?”  
Janus was surprised, but nodded and sat down on the bed in front of the little boy.  
The boy ran held the other’s hand, observing it curiously. After a while, he looked up at the the monster’s face.  
“Can I touch your face?”  
“Sure, just be careful, especially with uh,” he gestured to the opening on the left side of his face that went from his mouth almost all the way up to his ear, “this.”  
The boy nodded and gently ran his fingers over the scales and gash. Janus shuddered; the others never touched his face.  
“I like your scales,” he said, “They feel nice.”  
“Thank you,” he responded. He looked into the little boy’s dark blue eyes, lost in thought. The little one continued to run his fingers along the scales of Janus’s face before deciding to switch to the ones on his hands.  
“Do you have a name? Mine’s Logan.”  
“I do.”  
“What is it?”  
Janus tilted his head, pausing for a moment, “Kelly.”  
“That’s not your real name!” Logan protested.  
“Hm. Alright, how about Susan?”  
Logan pouted, “Well I have to call you something, so do you have a name or not?”  
“I do, but I think this is more fun; I like to keep you on your toes,” he gave a playful wink.  
“But I’m not on my toes.”  
Janus chuckled, “It’s an expression.”  
“I hate expressions,” he crossed his arms before an idea struck him.  
“Well, since you’re not telling me your name, I’m gonna call you Deceit!”  
Janus hummed, “Deceit,” he tested it, “I like it.”  
“That was supposed to be revenge for using an expression. You’re not supposed to like it,” he pouted.  
“And you’re not supposed to be unafraid of me, but here we are,” Janus quipped.  
Logan sighed, “Fine.”  
Janus turned back to the closet.  
“I should be going. Besides, it is still awfully cold in here.”  
He stood up before Logan grabbed one of his scaled hands, “Will you come back?”  
“Always,” he grinned before walking into the darkness of the closet.


	4. Second Cookies; Second Chances

“Can I have a second cookie?”  
Thomas counted the cookies, “Sure, but only because you’re lucky enough that we made extra.”  
“Thank you!” Patton took the cookie, placing it on a napkin and running to put it on his nightstand.  
He ran through the kitchen and to the living room, where Logan was writing something in one of his notebooks with a half-eaten cookie in his other hand. He peered over his brother’s shoulder.  
“Watcha doin?”  
“Planning.”  
He tilted his head, “Planning what?”  
“Confidential.”  
The younger whined, “You always say that!”  
Logan turned to the two other notebooks on the floor. He pulled out a different notebook and handed it to Patton.  
“You can read this one instead, if you want. It’s about animals.”  
Patton smiled and took it, “Thanks, Lo!”

After about half an hour of reading through Logan’s notes, Thomas announced it was time to go to sleep.  
“But I’m not,” Roman yawned, “tired.”  
Thomas chuckled and ruffled his hair, “I know, but how are you gonna fight bad guys without a full night’s rest?”  
Roman yawned again, “Okay,” he hugged his father and went to bed.  
“Where’s Lo?” Patton asked.  
“He went to bed earlier.”  
“What about his animal notebook?”  
“It’s okay, he said to just leave it on the table.”  
“Okay,” he hugged Thomas, “Goodnight.”

Patton pretended to sleep, which was pretty hard considering how much he actually wanted to sleep. But soon enough, the closet door creaked open and a figure came up to his bed, touching his cheek to get his attention. This time, though, Patton knew it was the monster from before, and while he was still scared, he didn’t cry like all the other times. Instead he sat up and brought his knees to his chest, hiding his face.  
“H-hi.”  
“Hey,” the monster said plainly. They both sat in silence for a bit.  
“Y-you can have it. The-the cookie on the nightstand. It’s for you.”  
“For me?”  
The boy nodded. Virgil hesitantly took the cookie and bit into it. It was weird, considering he’d never eaten before, but it wasn’t bad.  
“Thanks, kid.”  
“I’m Patton,” he said, still not looking up, “What’s your name?”  
The creature paused, “You can call me Vee.”  
“That’s a nice name.”  
Virgil didn’t respond, the only noises in the room being him trying to eat the cookie without his chelicera getting in the way. Eventually, Patton worked up the nerve to tilt his head up to find the monster looking right at him. He quickly hid his face again.  
The creature hesitantly placed a hand on Patton’s shoulder, trying to ignore the obvious flinch.  
“You know I’m not gonna hurt you, right?”  
“How come you try to scare me?”  
Virgil thought for a moment, “Well, it’s not like I necessarily _try_ to scare you. It just kinda happens. It’s part of my job.”  
Patton finally looked up, curious, “What do you mean?”  
“Well,” Virgil began, “I’m made of your nightmares. Notice that you had more nightmares before I came?”  
Patton nodded.  
“That’s because your nightmares are what make me. If your nightmares stayed in your head instead of building me, you’d have more nightmares. And the more nightmares you have, the stronger the evil fairies get.”  
“Evil fairies?”  
“Yeah, they bring bad luck to children. So that’s why I’m here. To protect you from their magic.”  
Patton went quiet before suddenly jumping on Virgil and wrapping his arms around him.  
“Thank you Vee.”  
“Aren’t you still afraid of me?”  
“As long as I close my eyes and don’t touch your spider arms, it’s okay.”  
Virgil chuckled and returned the hug, stopping himself from wrapping his spider limbs around Patton. He ran one of his hands through the boy’s fluffy hair, holding him close for a few minutes before they pulled apart, at which point Patton looked at the floor, but didn’t close his eyes again.  
“I should probably be going,” he started to stand up before Patton grabbed his arm.  
“Wait!” He paused, “Can...Can you stay here until I fall asleep?”  
Virgil furrowed his eyebrows, confused, “You want me to stay? Even though you’re afraid of me?”  
“Well, I mean, you are really scary but...But you’re a good monster,” he tried to find the right words before a lightbulb went off in his head, “Like-like in Monsters Inc!”  
“I don’t know what Monsters Inc is, but thanks,” he smiled.  
“We should,” Patton yawned, “We should watch it together later.”  
“Sure,” Virgil placed the blankets over Patton after he lied down, sitting on the bed with him until he drifted off to sleep.


	5. A Whole Army

Remus was going to get back at his kid, he was sure of it. He crawled under the little boy’s bed, his tentacles protruding and ready to coil around the boy. He was gonna get the scare of his life.  
He managed to get the boy’s ankles and one wrist before he felt something sharp on one of his tentacles.  
“FUCK!” He quickly contracted his tentacles and rolled out from under the bed, now face to face with his attacker.  
Who was holding a knife.  
“What the hell, dude?! How’d you just get a fucking knife?!”  
“I don’t have to answer to you, fiend!” He held up his knife defensively.  
“You-you can’t just _do that!_ I mean Jesus Christ! It’s not like I’ve ever fucking stabbed you!”  
“You’re a monster! And you’ve been trying to kill me ever since we met!”  
“I was just messing around! I never actually hurt you, did I?”  
Roman paused, “But you tried to!”  
“I was just fucking with you, geez. You don’t have to try to kill me over it. Calm down.”  
“But why would you do that?”  
He shrugged, “Because it’s fun. Besides, you seemed to like it.”  
Roman thought. It was kind of fun, even if he was scared. It made him feel like a real hero, pushing down his fears and fighting monsters.  
“I guess. But we’re still enemies, so I’m still gonna fight you.”  
“Fine, but no more knives or anything like that.”  
“Only if you don’t use your squid arm thingies!”  
“They’re octopus arms, but sure.”  
Roman very maturely stuck out his tongue, to which Remus smiled wide and stuck out his own unnaturally long, discolored tongue.  
“Ew, gross!”  
Remus laughed.  
“I’m gonna go fix my tentacle,” he paused halfway through the closet, “Name’s Remus, by the way. Don’t think you’ve ever asked. Later!” He stuck out his tongue again and made a face before closing the door.

The next day, Roman was a lot less excited to go to bed. When Remus pounced on his bed, he didn’t even respond at all. No heroic monologuing or surprise attacks.  
“What’s with you today?” Remus asked from where he was hanging upside down, tentacles sticking to the ceiling.  
“Come on, aren’t you gonna fight me?”  
Roman sulked, “I can’t. I lost my sword.”  
“What if I helped you find it?”  
“But you’re my arch nemesis!”  
“‘Arch nemesis?’ Huh, cool,” he grinned, “But anyways, it’s not like I have much else to do. Besides, how’re we gonna fight if you don’t have your sword thingy?”  
“Fine, but you gotta be really, _really_ quiet.”

The two snuck around the house before going downstairs and searching the living room. Roman looked over behind the couch, stretching his short arm as far as he could to grab his sword. Remus wordlessly leaned over the catch and got it with ease, handing it back to the boy.  
The sound of a kettle being turned on caught their attention, and Roman motioned for Remus to hide. When he still didn’t hear the sound of retreating footsteps after a few minutes, he dashed into the kitchen to see who could possibly be up at this hour.  
He did not expect to see a scaled, six-armed creature sipping hot cocoa from a mug while its other hands held up one of Logan’s books.  
“You’re the one that’s been drinking all the hot cocoa!”  
Janus almost laughed; of all the reactions he had expected, that certainly wasn’t one of them.  
“To be fair, it is my house too.”  
“Wh-no it’s not!”  
“Well I live here, don’t I?”  
Before Roman could respond, Janus flinched, nearly dropping his mug at the sight of Remus suddenly dropping down from the ceiling in front of him.  
“ _Remus!_ ”  
“Heya snakey!”  
“You guys know each other?” Roman looked back and forth at the two.  
Remus threw his arm around his friend’s neck, to which the other responded with a hiss.  
“Yup! We’re BFFs!”  
“Acquaintances at best,” Janus grumbled.  
“Does that make you my enemy too?”  
“Considering you’re implying that you also hate him, no. In fact, I’d propose an alliance.”  
Remus gaped at him, “Wh-You can’t just-He’s _my_ kid!”  
“Too bad.”  
Roman ran next to Janus and held up his sword dramatically.  
“Haha! Now I have a whole army!”  
Janus had to use one of his hands to hide a chuckle.

Remus was about to retort, but they all froze at the sound of heavy footsteps.  
“It’s dad!” Roman whisper-yelled, “Hide!”  
Janus quickly put down his mug and book, running to hide underneath the tablecloth with Remus. When Roman tried to hide, he pushed him away. He felt bad, but someone had to take the blame.  
“Roman, what are you doing up?”  
“Uh...Things?”  
“Well, what you’re gonna do _now_ is go back to bed, Mr.”  
Roman frowned, but didn’t say anything as he headed upstairs, his father following behind him.

After waiting a half hour to make sure Thomas was asleep, the two monsters finally came out from under the table. Remus looked at the half-full mug on the table.  
“What is that stuff anyways?”  
“Logan calls it ‘hot cocoa.’ You can have it, it’s probably cold by now anyway.”  
Remus gleefully drank the cocoa.  
“I like it!”  
Remus paused, “Wait, did you actually talk to your kid?”  
“Yeah. He’s not afraid of me anymore, apparently.”  
“Losing your touch, are you?”  
Janus scowled.  
“Oh don’t get all high and mighty; you seem pretty buddy-buddy with your kid yourself.”  
“We’re sworn enemies!” He protested.  
“I swear, sometimes I forget you’re not a child yourself.”  
“Ugh, whatever. Don’t you have a kid to terrorize or something?”  
Janus rolled his eyes before going upstairs and quietly returning to Logan’s room, Remus following soon after to go to his own kid’s closet.


End file.
